1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to thermal printers and the print media used by thermal printers.
2. Background of the Related Art
Printers are used to record and provide printed information and advertisements to consumers that use automatic teller machines, self-serve kiosks, self-serve fuel pumps and movie ticket kiosks, and to consumers that receive receipts relating to purchases of goods and products. Printers are generally stocked with a supply of print media, such as paper stored in a roll with an exposed end accessible to be fed through a pathway adjacent to a print head. The printer may comprise rollers coupled to one or more servo-motors controlled by a controller to position and advance the print media to receive printed information thereon. As the rollers draw print media from the roll, the roll of print media rotates to spool out additional portions of print media until the roll is depleted and then replaced with a new roll. A cutter may be disposed adjacent to a slot in a printer enclosure through which the print media is dispensed to the user, such as a consumer, attendant, or clerk. The cutter cuts the print media so that the consumer can retrieve and retain a portion of print media bearing the printed information.
A thermal printer (or direct thermal printer) produces a printed image by selectively heating coated print media, or thermal paper, as it is commonly known, when the print media passes across the thermal print head. A coating applied to the print media turns black or some other color in the areas where localized heat is applied by the print head in patterns corresponding to an image to be printed on the print media, such as alphanumeric characters or other images. A thermal print head may be capable of printing on a several different types of print media, but the thermal print head may require adjustment of settings to provide optimal quality of printing on a given print media. If the new roll of print media is a different type than the previous roll of print media, the thermal print head settings need to be adjusted.